1.66m Housing Benefit Claimants Live In Private Sector

A third of all housing benefit claimants live in the private rented sector, the latest government figures show. The figures showed housing benefit was paid to 3.34 million tenants of social landlords and 1.66 million private tenants in February. The data also showed 3.7 million, or three quarters, of the 5 million claimants were aged under 65. There were 3.92 million single housing benefit claimants, 1.21 million of them with at least one child. Figures also showed that around 500,000 tenants were affected by the bedroom tax. Of these, 397,000 had one spare bedroom and 78,000 had two. Information was unavailable for the remaining 1,600. See the full set of figures on the StatExplore website.